


see you soon

by ohvictor



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 05:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4991362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohvictor/pseuds/ohvictor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After meeting one of Karasuno's first years, Kenma starts to feel things they don't recognize.</p>
            </blockquote>





	see you soon

**Author's Note:**

> #12 on [this list of soulmate aus](http://thegeminisage.tumblr.com/post/94680598838): "the one where you form a telepathic/empathic link until/after you find them"; i went with an empathic link after meeting. i asked [jem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrysuga) for a ship and a number and this ensued. kenma and kuroo are both nonbinary; kenma uses they/them and kuroo uses ze/zir pronouns. dialogue at the end pulled from episode 12. enjoy!!

There’s a restless energy in Kenma’s chest for the rest of the afternoon. It’s nice at first, if puzzling, and they play better in the day’s practice matches. The change from their usual minimum-effort style catches their teammates’ attention, much to Kenma’s irritation, and they get several head-rubs and back-pats as Nekoma’s volleyball team piles back into the school van to go back to their rented room.

“Did you sleep extra last night?” Lev prods, his voice, as usual, too loud for the confined space of the car. “Did you get a cool new game? Did you drink an energy drink?”

“No,” Kenma says.

“Man! Well, you should play like that more often!”

“They can’t just make themself be energized,” says Kai. “It’s probably a 'once in a blue moon' type thing.”

Lev’s eyes light up at the mention of the moon, apparently not registering anything else Kai said with his usual hyperfocus on whatever idea he’s entertaining at the moment. “Hang on, is it a full moon? Are you a werewolf? Do werewolves get special energy from the full moon?” He wiggles in his seat, fishing for his phone in his back pocket. “I need to look this up, hold on.”

“Kenma isn’t a werewolf,” Kuroo says, tone certain. Lev jumps, having thought Kuroo’s closed eyes meant ze was asleep. “Sometimes things just happen out of nowhere, for no reason. Like you being able to receive spikes, Lev.”

“Ouch, Kuroo-san!” says Lev, but he relaxes at the good-natured laughs of his teammates, and then goes on rambling about werewolves for the rest of the drive. Kuroo makes a show of putting earbuds in to block him out.

Kenma relaxes into their seat, staring out the window, fingers fiddling with their phone in their lap. They’re still buzzing with that foreign energy, which only seems to build over time. It feels like the times they’ve used energy drinks to pull all-nighters, a surge of energy that feels chemical, separate. Weird Maybe it’ll go away after dinner.

\--

“What’s happening to me!” Hinata whines, flopping onto his sleeping bag. Next to him, Kageyama grumbles and continues digging through his bag for his toothbrush.

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re just nervous for the match tomorrow ‘cause you know your receives suck.”

“Why are you always so negative!” Hinata rolls back into a sitting position. “And no, it’s not that kind of nervous! It’s like-- People nervous! I kept getting these surges of not knowing what to say at dinner!”

Kageyama sits back on his heels and finally gives Hinata his full attention, although with an accompanying scowl. “Maybe you’re tired.”

“I’m never tired!”

“That’s literally not true.”

“Well, I don’t get like that when I’m tired! I just get, ya know.” Hinata wiggles his hands. “Dead.”

“How is that the motion for dead?”

“It’s like a dead fish wriggling! Keep up, Kageyama!”

“Why are you two yelling again?” says Tsukishima, padding into the room with a towel draped over his wet hair.

“We’re using our inside voices,” Kageyama snaps, but Hinata smacks his hand down on his sleeping bag and yells, “That’s it! Maybe I’m becoming Tsukishima!”

Tsukishima’s head tips to the side. “What?”

“Tsukishima!” Hinata rises to his knees and waves excitedly. “When people talk to you, how do you feel?”

Tsukishima looks taken aback for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

Hinata bounces a bit on his knees. “Does it freak you out?”

“I wouldn’t say...” Tsukishima frowns. “Sometimes? I don’t know. Isn’t that a little personal?”

“I’m doing research,” says Hinata firmly. “But the results are--not clear.”

“Inconclusive,” Tsukishima mumbles, and then digs his headphones out of his bag. “Both of you should go shower. You’re stinking up the room.”

Hinata and Kageyama immediately protest in unison, but Tsukishima just points at his headphones until they give up and leave for the washroom.

\--

Kenma rolls on their stomach on their sleeping bag, tugging their pillow over their head. Their chest is squirming with surges of emotion that they don’t recognize. Flashes of happiness, little jabs of irritation, alternating impulses of defensive retorts and simple excitement. They don’t understand where it could be coming from, and they don’t like not knowing what’s happening in their mind.

They had skipped dinner after the energy and excitement crawling in their belly had made them too disoriented to hold conversations, had texted Kuroo the real reason once they’d made it safely to their bed, so Kuroo wouldn’t worry. They’ll ask zir to bring them dinner soon, if ze doesn’t do that of zir own initiative; sometimes Kuroo just knows.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Kenma hears footsteps approaching and, when they roll over and remove the pillow from their face, they see Kuroo settling down next to them with a plastic cup of dinner leftovers. Kenma takes the cup without a word, and slowly begins to eat the chunks of meat out of the cold noodles, which they will eat second. Kuroo watches, zir expression droopy from sleepiness.

“Do you feel any better?” ze asks when Kenma has eaten all the meat and started on the noodles.

Kenma shrugs one shoulder. “I dunno. I don’t know what’s happening.”

Kuroo scoots closer, frowning in sympathy. “I bet you’ll be back to normal tomorrow. Maybe meeting that little redhead messed up your brain. He seemed pretty weird.”

“Definitely loud,” Kenma muses. Huh. Now that they think about it, a lot of their weird flashes of emotion had felt like Shouyou. The fast switches between excitement and dejection; the overwhelming happiness at little things...

They finish their noodles in comfortable silence; Kuroo is messing with the folds of Kenma’s sleeping bag. Eventually Kenma gets up to throw away the cup, and Kuroo heads off to get ready to shower. Kenma sits in bed thinking for a little while longer, and then follows Kuroo to the bathroom.

\--

The day of the fated Karasuno-Nekoma practice match dawns bright and a little chilly, and Kenma feels the now-familiar rushes of excitement in their chest, but they’re less nervous about them today. It feels like something warm jumping up and down in the pit of their stomach, a tiny reminder of the new acquaintance they’ll see again in just a bit. Kuroo sleeps the whole drive after making sure that Kenma really is okay; Lev chatters the whole way. Nothing has changed, and yet everything has.

The two teams line up across from each other, and, now anticipating it, Kenma feels the surge of surprise (and a twinge of indignation) when Shouyou catches sight of them standing with Nekoma. They feel Shouyou’s impatience as he waits for the formalities to end so he can confront Kenma. They feel themself smile, half in relief, half in an excitement that surprises them too. Kuroo, currently staring down Karasuno’s captain, doesn’t notice Kenma slipping away to meet Shouyou a ways away from their teammates.

“You’re with Nekoma?” Shouyou says, but he looks too pleased to be angry, and Kenma feels the corresponding emotions. They nod, prompting a groan and a “Why didn’t you tell me!” from Shouyou.

“You didn’t ask,” says Kenma, but they’re smiling, still smiling. Even as Shouyou squawks in protest, Kenma smiles, and eventually Shouyou’s expression melts into a smile too. A feedback loop finally equalizing as they stand there, content.

 

 


End file.
